Competitors Keep Their Eyes On The Hostile Skies

Radio-controlled Plane Operators Play During Wild Weekend

WEST PALM BEACH — With a skilled hand, Richard Gruber maneuvered the small, radio-controlled plane through loops and spins, twists and turns, dives and rolls.

Just when it looked as though Gruber was bringing down the 5-pound, motorized miniature to land on a remote runway at the South Florida Fairgrounds on Sunday, he suddenly gunned the engine and sent the plane 200 feet into the air.

``When you learn how to fly them, you can have fun with them,'' said Gruber, an instructor at the Palm Beach Aero Club.

Earlier in the day, Gruber, 35, of Wellington, competed with 28 other aerial acrobats in the Fourth Annual Southeast Regional Wild Weekend Radio-Controlled Combat, which the Aero Club sponsored Saturday and Sunday.

Participants racked up points by using their propellers or wings to snip off the crepe paper streamers attached to the back of the other planes.

As many as six planes flew at once, all seeking to score points without striking the other planes.

Gruber placed 10th, destroying three of his own planes in the process.

But he had plenty more pint-sized planes to select from the back of his blue 1993 Ford Ranger.

``Those collisions are just a result of the inevitable occupying of the same space by two objects at high speed,'' said Chris Handegard, president of the Aero Club, who won second place in the competition.

First place went to 17-year-old Ryan Hoel of West Palm Beach, who picked up the $1,000 cash prize with 141 points.

Second and third place were a toss-up between Handegard, 41, of West Palm Beach, and Larry Magee, the club's head instructor, who tied at 133.

Even after four sudden-death competitions between Handegard and Magee, the two were dead even because neither was able to score on the other, Gruber said.

``After we fought it out for like 25 minutes, we just couldn't keep everyone on hold waiting for us to get each other,'' Handegard said. ``If they can't decide it after a certain point, they just flip a coin.''

Organizers of the competition flipped a coin to decide that Handegard would get the second-place, $500 prize, and Magee would get the third-place, $300 prize.

``Larry was easily my match,'' Handegard said. ``We've flown against each other quite a lot, and he won last year's event.''

After the competition, Gruber, who scored 75 points, decided he wanted to fly some more _ just for fun.

So he flew two planes owned by one of his students, Kevin Knebel.

The first was a 5-pound beginners' plane with a large wing that folds like a ``V'' over the fuselage, making it easier to keep the plane upright.

The other was a 10-pound replica of a miniaturized World War II AT6 Texan, which is more powerful and has flat wings that make it harder to control.

``It's too windy for me to have any fun,'' said Knebel, 36, of Royal Palm Beach, as he struggled to keep the smaller plane from flipping over as he taxied down the runway before takeoff.

Gruber, however, didn't complain when he took over the controls of the Texan.

``Too windy?'' Gruber said as he rolled the larger plane in mid-air, took it up for a few loops, and shot it through the air at 80 mph. ``It's never too windy.''